[October 17, 2017]

Healthgrades Releases 2018 Analysis of Top Quality Hospitals Nationally

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, today released its 2018 analysis of top quality hospitals nationally. Healthgrades evaluated the performance of nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 34 common conditions and procedures.

In addition, Healthgrades also released the related 2018 Report to the Nation, which underscores a theme Healthgrades has observed for years: significant variation in health outcomes exists among hospitals nationwide.

The analysis offers insight on variation in clinical quality and outcomes across the country and found that:

• Patients treated at hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have a lower risk of dying and a lower risk of experiencing one or more complications during a hospital stay than if they were treated at hospitals receiving a 1-star rating in that procedure or condition. From 2014-2016, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 219,568 lives could potentially have been saved and 164,454 complications could potentially have been avoided.*
• Patients have varying relative risk for complications and mortality with common surgeries. The choice of hospital however can have a significant impact on this risk. Patients having surgery in hospitals rated 5-stars will have a lower risk of experiencing a complication or dying than if they were treated in a hospital rated as 1-star for that same procedure.
• Hospitals within close proximity from each other can have significant differences in complication and mortality rates for the same condition or procedure.

"Many consumers believe that hospital qualit is standardized, though the reality is that clinical quality and outcomes at hospitals vary widely across the country," said Brad Bowman, M.D., Healthgrades, Chief Medical Officer. "Consumers can arm themselves with trusted information and tools like the new Healthgrades analysis to determine their best choices for care."

The new analysis coincides with Healthgrades release of the National Health Index, which named the 25 healthiest cities in the country. The National Health Index was developed by compiling several industry metrics, including Healthgrades data on a population's access to high-quality hospitals. The Index also incorporates data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

"We observed that communities are healthier when they have access to high-quality hospitals, so while many consumers only think about their local hospitals in times of emergencies, there really is long-term benefit to the health of the population when access to top-notch hospitals is high," said Bowman.

For more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality, access the complete methodology.

Find out where your city landed on the new Healthgrades National Health Index.

Learn more about how hospitals partner with Healthgrades.

*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2014 through 2016 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

About Healthgrades

Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering stronger and more meaningful connections between patients and their healthcare providers. At www.healthgrades.com, we help millions of consumers each month to find and schedule appointments with their provider of choice. With our scheduling solutions and advanced analytics applications, we help more than 500 hospitals across the country to cultivate new patient relationships, improve patient access, and build customer loyalty. At Healthgrades, better health gets a head start.

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